System and method for tracking, locating, and guiding within buildings

• US 20030135324A1
• Filed: 11/18/2002
• Published: 07/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corporate Research Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Navab, Nassir
• Granted Patent: US 6,675,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location

Abstract

This invention relates to positional tracking, locating, and guiding individuals and robotic devices within buildings. An embodiment of the invention includes a method for tracking, locating, and guiding an entity within a building, that has the steps of emergency personnel arriving at the location, determining if digital floor plans are available, downloading digital floor plan data of a building, entering the digital floor plan data of the building into a server, displaying placeholder locations within the building, activating the tracking devices by affixing the tracking devices to the placeholders, determining if the server placeholder locations were used, inputting placeholder locations that were used, and displaying a combination of said location data and said building floor plans to a user.

Claims

1. A method for tracking, locating, and guiding an entity within a building, comprising the steps of:

entering a digital floor plan of said building into a server;

installing at least one of a plurality of placeholders at various locations within said building;

indicating said various placeholder locations on said digital floor plan;

activating said at least one of a plurality of tracking devices by connecting said at least one of a plurality of tracking devices to said at least one of a plurality of placeholders, wherein said activation includes transmission of location data of an entity to be tracked to said server; and

displaying by said server said location data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed at predetermined locations within said building.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed at a predetermined height relative to a floor of said building.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed at a random height relative to a floor of said building.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said server is non-stationary.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said server is stationary.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said activating said at least one of a plurality of tracking devices, includes reception and transmission of location data of said entity to be tracked by said at least one of a plurality of tracking devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said activating said at least one of a plurality of tracking devices, includes interactively communicating between said at least one of a plurality of tracking devices and said server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said displaying by said server, includes displaying by said server said building floor plans.

10. A system for tracking, locating, and guiding an entity within a building, comprising:

a digital floor plan of a building;

a server for processing said digital floor plan of said building;

at least one of a plurality of placeholders installed at various locations within said building;

a location indicator device for indicating said various placeholder locations on said digital floor plan; and

at least one of a plurality of tracking devices connected to said at least one of a plurality of placeholders for reception and transmission of location data of said entity to said server for display on said digital floor plan.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed in fixtures at a predetermined locations within said building.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed in fixtures at a predetermined height relative to a floor of said building.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed in fixtures at a random height relative to a floor of said building.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein said server is contained in a non-stationary device.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said server is contained in a stationary device.

16. A system for tracking, locating, and guiding an entity within a building, comprising:

digital data means for describing floor plans of a building;

a computing means for processing said floor plans of said building;

at least one of a plurality of tracking means for reception and transmission of location data of said entity;

at least one of a plurality of affixing means installed at various locations within said building for affixing and activating said at least one of a plurality of tracking means;

a location indicator means for indicating said various affixing means locations on said digital data means; and

a display means for displaying said location data transmitted by said at least one of a plurality of tracking means.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said at least one of a plurality of affixing means are installed in housing means at predetermined locations within said building.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said at least one of a plurality of affixing means are installed in housing means at a predetermined height relative to a floor of said building.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein said at least one of a plurality of placeholders are installed in housing means at a random height relative to a floor of said building.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein said computing means is non-stationary.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said computing means is stationary.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein said display means includes said display means displaying said digital data means for describing building floor plans.